And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.
- BSB Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
- NKJV Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
- NASB And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed outwards powerfully, so that the house fell on the governors and all the people who were in it. And the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime.
- NLT he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Crying "Let me die with the Philistines," Samson pushes with all his might and the temple collapses, killing more in his death than in his life. His final act is his greatest deliverance.
Overview
God answers Samson's prayer, and the falling temple destroys the Philistine lords and a great multitude. Samson dies with them, giving his life to strike Israel's enemies. His self-sacrificial death that brings deliverance offers a faint, imperfect foreshadowing of Christ, who through His own death won a far greater and saving victory over His people's true enemies.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Matt 16:25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
- Phil 2:8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
- 1 Th 5:2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
- Matt 24:38–39For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
- Phil 2:17Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
- Acts 21:13Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
- Eccl 9:12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
- Job 31:3Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
- Ps 62:3How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence.
- Heb 2:14–15Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
- Phil 2:30Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
- Acts 20:24But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
- Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
- Gen 3:15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
- Heb 12:1–4Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
- Col 2:15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
- Judg 15:8And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
- Judg 14:19And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.
- Judg 15:15And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 16:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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